


[Extra] Eyes on you

by hkandi



Series: Winter Bingo 2020/21 [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Discord: Umino Hours, Footprints in the snow, Gen, M/M, Pakkun helps out, Umino Hours Winter Bingo, things aren't what they seem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28863471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/pseuds/hkandi
Summary: Iruka takes his class out on a field trip to teach them some winter survival skills, but when they start to pay attention to the tracks in the snow, he realizes a particular set of paw prints are following them. He decides to find the culprit so he can keep his kids safe, but surprises await him instead!
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Pakkun, Hatake Kakashi & Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Rookie Nine & Umino Iruka
Series: Winter Bingo 2020/21 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110020
Comments: 12
Kudos: 105
Collections: The Umino Hours Winter Bingo 2020





	[Extra] Eyes on you

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Just checking in](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28719408) by [hkandi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/pseuds/hkandi). 



> Written for the Umino Hours Discord Server Winter Bingo event, for the prompt "footprints in the snow."
> 
> This is kind of part three of a three part (maybe four part!) story...I wrote them and then realized they could kind of string together, or be read alone. So, this follows "Just checking in," which I linked above.

(I don't own any characters etc etc)

"Sakura, Ino, eyes off your fellow student and on the path, please and thank you!" Iruka shouted out, barely refraining from pinching the bridge of his nose.

He was at the back of his class as they wandered on a field trip on the outskirts of the village, through almost knee deep snow.

Well, almost knee deep for him, so much higher for the kids.

He rubbed his gloves hands together to keep the blood flowing, hoping the hidden ANBU escorting them was faring better than he was, trying to wrangle a class of excited students.

The day had begun early, earlier than usual, and they had first learned about natural shelters, before taking off on their current hike.

They were also learning about tracking, specifically in the snow. Iruka had gone over the basics, and had previously asked Anko and Kotetsu to go ahead and leave a few trails of different tracks for the kids to find and follow, on top of whatever natural ones would appear.

"Iruka-sensei!" Sakura called out. "I think this person jumped into the trees?" she said, pointing to the end of a set of footprints.

"They jumped down a few feet later," Shikamaru sighed. "Can't we just go back to the shelters and take a nap for the rest of the day?"

"No!" Ino demanded. "There's some berries that are amazing this time of year that I want to pick, further up this trail!"

The kids began to squabble, and Iruka pushed them forward.

"What animal tracks can you find?" he asked, hoping the thought of furry animals would appease them.

Points to him, it worked!

After about ten minutes, Naruto called out.

"Iruka-sensei, we found new paw prints!" he said, from where he, Kiba, Shino, and Sasuke were crouched.

Iruka joined them, standing over the boys, and nodded.

"Well done! Are they yours, Kiba?"

"Nope, Akamaru's been snuggled in my hood!" Kiba said, and the pup yipped. "He's too cold to play in the snow again."

Iruka nodded. "Well, those don't look very big. Any guesses?" he asked the class, as the others had joined them.

"A cat?"

"A fox?"

"A wolf?"

"A bear?"

"Bears' feet are too big, dobe," Sasuke sneered at Naruto, who stuck his tongue out.

"A baby bear, so there!" Naruto shot back.

"Good guesses, everyone!" Iruka said, clapping his hands. "We'll have to keep an eye out, and if it is an animal with sharp, pointy teeth, let's not stray too far from the group, yeah?"

The children agreed and moved on, resuming tracking other tracks.

Iruka, however, kept an eye on the tiny paw prints, as they would appear, disappear, and almost double back.

Stalking them? Possibly.

Iruka frowned to himself as he thought of a fox thinking of his kids as prey, and quickly made a clone, sending it to make traps in the area, setting a bit of his chakra into them so he would be silently alerted.

The class reached a clearing in the woods used for this sort of thing, with a firepit lined with stones and logs around it as benches.

Pulling out items for fire, Iruka monitored his class in getting the fire started and built, before opening a scroll and bringing out a large pot, bowls, and spoons.

"Everyone be sure to thank Choji's family for giving us stew for lunch," Iruka said as he set the pot to heat up.

Just then, he was alerted to one of his traps.

"I'll be right back," he announced. "Remember, we have a hidden guard watching us, so no funny business!"

Iruka quickly left the clearing, darting west towards a rope trap he had set up.

He slowly and quietly approached it, unsure of how to handle whatever was in there.

Nearing it, Iruka could see that the trap had been triggered, and a rope net had sprung up and over the intruder, keeping them in place but not harming them.

A small sigh told Iruka there was, in fact, something in there.

He slowly walked over to it, and knelt in front of it.

"What!" he said, surprised. "You?"

"Hello, sensei," a gruff voice replied. 

"Hello, Pakkun," Iruka said. "What are you doing in there?"

Pakkun shrugged from underneath the net.

Iruka frowned. "Shouldn't you have...outsmarted...it? You're not known to fall for something so simple as this," he said, as he undid the trap.

Now freed, Pakkun stood and stretched, before shaking his body. "Like I care enough about that. I just wanted to be warm, and I knew it would bring you over."

"What are you doing out here?" Iruka asked.

"Monitoring you," Pakkun said. "Extra support. Now about that warmth..."

Surprised, Iruka nodded. "I'm not sure I understand, but thank you? Would you like to...?" he asked opening his vest. 

Pakkun nodded and jumped in, and Iruka helped to situate him just so.

"Let me just..." Iruka said, rearranging his scarf so it covered more of Iruka's neck and chest, as his vest was open about a third of the way so Pakkun could see out, as he was no facing forward.

"Ah, much better," Pakkun sighed, basking in the teacher's warmth.

"What a day," Iruka laughed. "Let's get back to the class."

They appeared a moment later, surprising the children, who were even more surprised to see their new guest.

Iruka checked on the stew and served the children, before leaving a bowl a safe distance away for their ANBU, then focused on holding a bowl for the pug to eat, still tucked into his vest. Once Pakkun was done, Iruka fed himself, now that he had both hands free.

To Iruka's surprise, the children were very well behaved towards Pakkun, and the dog was friendly enough to answer their questions, even if he did it with his expected gruffness.

As the food and supplies were packed into another scroll and the class set off, Pakkun assisted in the lessons and in corralling the children. Iruka was quite grateful for another set of eyes and ears, and the afternoon passed rather smoothly.

They returned to the academy just past their usual dismissal time, and Iruka headed into his classroom to fill out a report on their field trip.

Pakkun lounged on his desk, snoring lightly, and Iruka fought to keep a laugh in and not wake the ninken while he worked.

Fortunately, the dog woke just as Iruka was finishing, and was all too receptive to going out to dinner.

So into the vest he went, again, and off they went to Ichiraku's, where Iruka sat on a stool, Pakkun nestled in his vest, and Ayame cooed over them.

They were sitting like that, eating, when they felt movement next to them.

Looking up, they saw Kakashi sitting to their left.

"Hello, Kakashi-san," Iruka greeted him.

"Boss," Pakkun said.

Kakashi studied them in silence for a moment. "Enjoying your night?" he finally asked.

Iruka smiled and nodded. "I am." He looked down at Pakkun. "Are you?"

"You bet I am," Pakkun said, gruffly.

Kakashi placed his order and watched as Iruka fed himself with one hand, and Pakkun with the other, as there was a separate bowl with meat next to Iruka's ramen.

"I have to admit, I'm surprised to see you together," Kakashi said, as his own food was placed in front of him. "Busy day?"

"I took my class on a field trip," Iruka informed him. "Didn't you know? Since he's your summons..."

Kakashi shrugged. "ANBU asked for his services, something about needing a tracker, but I didn't ask for more information, and they didn't offer."

Iruka nodded and resumed eating, finding that some of Kakashi's food disapppeared even though he hadn't seen any movement from the copy nin.

They made small talk about this and that, before paying their bills, Ayame telling them that Pakkun's food was on the house due to "his service to Konoha, and his overall cuteness!"

They stood on the street just outside of Ichiraku's, Pakkun now on Kakashi's shoulder.

"We seem to keep bumping into each other," Iruka mused. "Would you like to bump into each other on purpose?" he asked. "Say, tomorrow night, outside of Hokage Tower at six?"

"Sounds like a plan," Kakashi agreed, and they bid each other goodnight and set off in separate directions.

"Looks like Iruka's spoiling you," Kakashi said to Pakkun as they headed to his apartment. "Lucky you."

"You're lucky I didn't tell him you were the ANBU watching his class, and that you purposely switched shifts today so you could take that mission," Pakkun retorted.

"You're lucky I didn't tell him that as soon as you heard about the Akimichi stew you abandoned me to go eat with them," Kakashi reminded him.

"Yeah, well, he gave you stew too."

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, basking in Iruka's thoughtfulness. "Yeah, he did..."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback and suggestions welcomed!
> 
> Let's connect, I'm on [tumblr](https://hkandiu.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [So, dinner...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29121003) by [hkandi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/pseuds/hkandi)




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